The Unexpected
by KaySky
Summary: This story takes place right after my last series, "Past, Present, & Future". Kaylee gets some unexpected news, Wash makes a horrible mistake that changes the lives of the crew members, and Mal has to make some hard decisions.
1. Chapter One

**Part One**

It had been a long day for Kaylee Tam. As she slid open the door to her bunk and flipped on the light, she was more than ready to just flump onto her bed. She had spent all day trying to work out the kinks in the cooling drive. After ten long hours of work she finally got it functioning again.

She slid off her coveralls and the cool air that met her skin sent goosebumps running all along her body. She finished undressing and began to wash herself making sure all the engine grease was washed away. The feeling of her soft cotton pajama bottoms against her skin warmed her inside. She pulled on a light pink tank top and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She was now completely ready to meet her bed.

**_Knock_**

She sighed before forcing a cheery, "Come in."

River walked into the room and over to Kaylee, poking her in the arm. "It." She smiled.

"River, I'm so tired. How 'bout I be 'it' tomorrow?" Kaylee's warm smile overcame the exhaustion in her eyes.

"Not a game." River giggled. "You have it."

Kaylee was much too exhausted to ponder River's rambles. She needed her to get to the point. "I have what?"

"Simon's the doctor." River smiled as she rolled her eyes.

"River I'm not sick." Kaylee argued.

"Not sick, you have it."

Kaylee was too exhausted to argue any longer and River had too much energy to give up anytime soon. "So I should see Simon about having 'it'?"

"He is the doctor." River pulled Kaylee by the arms leading her out of the room and on her way to the infirmary.

* * *

Simon had been in the infirmary for hours going over his notes. He was sure there had to be something he was missing. River had been doing so well up until this morning. She hadn't had any fits or nightmares. She'd even started talking normally and making sense. How could she wake up today and all that be gone? He sighed. Maybe he just wasn't a good enough doctor to ever offer River a permanent cure.

"Simon" His River induced self-pity trance was quickly broken by the sweet sounding voice of his beautiful wife.

"Hey wife, isn't it a little late for you to still be up?" He smiled. He got up from his stool, brushing the wrinkles out of his grey knit sweater.

Kaylee blushed. They'd only been married two short weeks. She wasn't used to hearing the word 'wife'. It sounded so good. "River says I have it."

"Have what?" A hint of concern was in his voice. He walked towards Kaylee, looking her over.

"That's what I asked, but she said you're the doctor."

Simon chuckled. Typical River, rambling something and leaving it up to others to interpret what she meant. "Well, hop up on the table. Let's have a look at you." He patted his hand softly on top of the table.

Kaylee hopped up, her legs dangling over one side.

"How are you feeling?" He asked as he began taking her pulse.

"Okay I suppose." She didn't sound too convincing.

"Suppose?" An eyebrow raised in concern.

"It's been a long day. 'Course I ain't feelin' all shiny."

"Well, what are you feeling?" He pressed the stethoscope against her skin underneath the top edge of her tank top.

"Just tired, I guess." She sighed. Usually she'd love being examined by Simon, but at this moment in time all she wanted was sleep.

"Just tired?" He stopped listening to her heart beat and placed his fingers on her neck, checking her lymph nodes.

"Maybe a little woozy."

"Maybe?" His voice was filled with concern as he took a seat on the stool next to the examining table. Her dangling legs brushed up against his knees.

"Simon, I don't need the third degree. If something was wrong I'd come to you. You know that."

"Sometimes something can be wrong without a person ever realizing it. Not all ailments are obvious."

"So I'm sick?"

"I'll run a few tests." He placed his hand on her knee, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "It's probably nothing."

* * *

While Simon was running the tests, Kaylee fell asleep on the examining table. Simon stood over her, watching her sleep. He was trying to think of the best way to tell her.

When he first read the results, he was convinced he had done something wrong. After the third try and the same results, he knew he had to be doing it right. He knew he _was_ doing it right. He nearly fainted.

He brushed the back of his hand gently across Kaylee's cheek. At the touch of his warm hand, she smiled. Her eyes opened slowly, blinking while they adjusted to the light. She sat up on the table, letting out a big yawn and stretching her arms.

"Hey xin gan," He said softly as he sat down on the table next to her. "I have the results."

She didn't know what it was about the way he said 'results', but it made her nervous. "Am I sick?"

He took her hands in his as he told her the diagnosis.

* * *

_Three days later: Docks of Persephone_

It was the early evening when Serenity finally arrived on the docks of Persephone. Inara departed in her shuttle to meet a client. Jayne and Zoe had loaded up the mule. Wash drove them and Mal to the rendezvous point. Shepherd Book said he had errands to run in town and promised to bring back some fresh produce for the crew to enjoy. River had been given a smoother and was asleep in her bunk. Kaylee and Simon stood in the cargo bay.

"Do you really have to go?" Simon pouted.

"Simon, I'll be fine, but if I don't get those parts for Serenity, she won't be." Kaylee gave Simon a quick kiss on the cheek, but before she could pull away, he had pulled her in for a more passionate kiss on the lips.

A few minutes, and several kisses later, Kaylee pulled away. "If you keep that up I ain't never gonna get those parts."

"So?" A devilish smile formed on Simon's face as he pulled her in for one more kiss.

As much as she didn't want to, she quickly broke the kiss. "When I get back, I promise." She kissed the tip of his nose and took a few steps backwards. "Anticipation is a great aphrodisiac." She grinned.

"Guess we'll be able to prove the effectiveness of that theory when you get back." Grinning like a love struck fool, Simon watched his beloved wife leave the ship.

His love induced daydreams were interrupted by River's scream. He had no idea why her behavior had gone so far down hill. Maybe being alone on the ship together would give them a chance to spend time together, undistracted. Hopefully, he'd be able to get some insight to the change in her condition.

* * *

The cargo was delivered successfully and Mal got paid. He liked getting paid. As much as he wanted to head off to the pub with Jayne and Wash, he knew if he wanted to get paid again anytime soon, he and Zoe would have to look for work.

The pub was rather crowded. Jayne and Wash found the only two free seats and sat down. At the table sat two other gentlemen. One was completely wasted. He easily had a few hours of drinking time in. The other was sober. He seemed to be happy just nursing his drink.

Several, several, drinks later Jayne and Wash were completely intoxicated. Jayne had been eying a hooker at the bar all night. He finally decided it was time for some manly entertainment. He got up and headed towards the bar, leaving Wash alone at the table with the other two men.

The intoxicated man was rather friendly. Within minutes he had struck up a conversation with Wash.

"So I told him I wasn't no criminal." He waved his mug in the air. "No criminal, not me."

"A toast!" Wash exclaimed. "To those who ain't criminals!"

"And fugitives!" The intoxicated man added. "Fugitives are nuttin' but unfound criminals!"

"Fugitives ain't so bad." Wash defended. "I kinda like 'em."

"You sayin' yousa fugitive." The man said angrily.

"Not me..." Wash took another chug of his drink. "My friends, the doctor and his sis, theyze the sweeterst people. Ain't right the Alliance has a price tag on their heads."

For the first time the whole evening, the sober man's attention was captured. "A price tag?" He questioned Wash.

"Yeah you know, reward money." Wash said before taking another large gulp.

"What ship did you say you came in on?"

"My wifey is the first mate. She's so pretty." Wash grinned. "The first mate of Serenity is my wife. My cutie-pie of a wife."

The sober man got up from the table, leaving a few shillings for payment of his one, unfinished drink. He even left a little, actually a lot, for a tip. Usually a cheapskate, tonight he felt generous.

* * *

River was sitting on her bed, her legs pressed against her chest and her arms holding them tight. She was rocking back and forth. Tears were streaming down her cheeks and her eyes were as dark as the night's sky.

"River!" Simon called her name as he rushed over towards her, sitting down next to her, pulling her close to him, holding her, comforting her. "Meimei, it was just a nightmare." He rubbed circles on her back, trying to calm her down. She was still crying. She was still rocking despite how tight he held her. "It was just a nightmare, meimei." He repeated again.

"Nightmares aren't real." Her voice was weak.

"That's right. They aren't real so there is no reason to be upset." He planted a kiss on her forehead. "You're okay meimei."

"You don't comprehend!" She yelled. Her voice was filled with a mixture of anger and terror. "You don't understand!" She began crying harder than before.

Simon was starting to get a bit tense himself. He didn't know why, but a shiver ran up his spine. "Make me understand, River." He pulled her away so he could look into her eyes. "I can't help you if I don't know."

"Knowledge will not triumph in this battle." Her eyes were bloodshot and her cheeks were stained with tears." The nightmare will conquer."

Simon began to wonder whether or not this nightmare was really just a nightmare. His sister has had premonitions before, maybe this was one of them.

If only Simon would have come to that realization sooner. One last cry of terror escaped River's lips as Simon was knocked in the back of the head with a gun. He fell backwards, unconscious.

* * *

It was finally time for Malcolm Reynolds to relax. He and Zoe had found themselves a job. Tomorrow morning they would receive the first half of payment with the cargo. It was a good feeling knowing that money was coming in. To Mal, good feelings like that were worth celebrating. He planned on doing just that.

He opened the door to the local pub. Zoe followed him inside. It was still crowded. It took them a few minutes before they spotted Wash. Together they walked over to the table.

"Hello husband." Zoe leaned in to kiss Wash, but the strong stench of alcohol turned her away. "You've been drinking, I see." She sat down next to him.

"And he's gonna be drinking some more because we're celebratin'." Mal said cheerfully as he sat down across from Wash.

"Zoe!" Wash exclaimed. "I've missed my pookey-poo!"

"She's da first mate?" The intoxicated man slurred.

"I see you've also been talking about me, husband." Zoe smiled at the drunk. "All of it was good, I'm sure."

"She ain't one of them fugitives, is she?" He pointed his finger so close to Zoe's face she was tempted to bite it.

"Fugitive?" Mal's eyebrow rose. "What would make you think my first mate was a fugitive?"

"He waz sayin' them were bad, but we know thaznotta true." Wash raised his mug in the air. "Toast to fugitwives!" He cheered.

Mal and Zoe looked at each other. There was nothing cheerful about their expressions. Worry, nervousness, and concern were just a few of the emotions flowing through their bodies. "Fugitives?" They said in unison.

"He warz sayin' yousegotta family of 'em that are nice." The intoxicated man took the last sip remaining in his mug. "That otter guy seemed to think theyze was nice too."

"Other guy?" Mal asked.

"The guy been sittern next to me all night. He seem ta think theyze nice, too."

"Wash, where is this other man?" It was a rarity for Zoe to use the 'wife tone', but now was more important a time than any.

"Dunno, he askered 'bout you and Serenity and left."

"You told him what ship we're on?" Mal asked angrily as he slammed his fist against the table.

"Well, I don't think he told 'em." Wash said sarcastically as he pointed to the intoxicated man and laughed.

"Zoe, get your husband in line. I'm going to find Jayne and we are gettin' the gorram hell outta here." Mal jumped up from his seat, slamming the chair against the table.

* * *

"Simon, River, where are you?" Kaylee was scared. It had been thirty minutes and neither one of the Tams had responded.

Book had returned to Serenity around the same time as Kaylee. He had just finished putting away the groceries when Kaylee walked into the kitchen. She was panicked. At first she thought maybe Simon and River were playing hide and seek, but after twenty minutes had passed, she knew Simon wouldn't still be hiding. He would have known it would worry her and he'd never intentionally do anything to upset her.

Book, too, had become concerned when Kaylee told him of her suspicions. Fresh produce usually lured people right into the kitchen. Things were quiet. Too quiet to be on Serenity, something was definitely wrong.

"River dear, if you are hiding please come out now." Book hollered through the hallways as he helped Kaylee in her search for the siblings.

"Simon!" Kaylee called out his name again in the cargo bay. "River, where are you, sweetie?" She became hopeful when she heard a set of footsteps behind her walk up the ramp. It was them. It had to be them. Who else could it be? She turned around expecting to see her husband and sister-in-law. Her expectations were not met.

* * *

Translations:

xin gan sweetheart -darling


	2. Chapter Two

**Authors Notes**: I wanted to give a shoutout to Reginaroadie for his help with me on this chapter. He was the voice behind Walken and also a great wall for me to bounce my ideas off of. Thanks!

* * *

**Part Two**

"Cap'n…" Any other time Kaylee would have been delighted to see her captain. She'd been so hopeful those footsteps belonged to Simon and River. Now she was devastated. Simon and River were really gone. She tried telling Mal, but her emotions got the best of her. The only thing she could do was run into his arms and sob.

"Guess this means the doc got snatched." Jayne said ever so insensitively.

Mal turned his head slightly. His eyes fell upon Wash. Had he not been holding Kaylee, he would have begun beating his pilot into a bloody pulp.

Zoe saw the look in Mal's eyes. It was rage, undeniable, justifiable rage. She was angry, too. At the moment she couldn't think of a single time she was ever angrier at her husband. He fucked up. That's all there was to it. She took him by the arm and led him up the stairs. He needed to sleep now. In the morning when he wakes up, he will be dealt with. An apology wasn't going to cut it. Wash really fucked up.

* * *

Simon awoke to find himself lying in an empty, cold, concrete room. His head was trembling with pain. As he rubbed his hand across the massive welt on the back of his head, he remembered. He quickly jumped to his feet, yelling out his sister's name.

The door to his cell slowly opened. An Alliance official carrying a briefcase stepped into the room. His footsteps sounded like hammers pounding against the cold concrete. Simon immediately yelled, "Where is my sister?"

"She's being tended to, Mr. Tam. But that is of little importance. What is of major importance is what you've done." Travis Walken was a faithful official of the Alliance. Since he graduated from the university, he had been taken under their wing. He quickly rose to the top of the ranks and nearly five years ago, he was given high enough security clearance to learn of The Academy. These past years of his life had been devoted to finding the Tams. He couldn't believe it all came down to a matter of luck. He had been sitting in the right place at the right time.

"What I've done?" Simon's face expressed exactly what he was thinking; I can't believe he just said that. "I'm not the one who turned her into some lab rat." Simon's tone was incredibly ugly.

"You have interrupted a highly sensitive, top secret treatment—the matters of which I cannot disclose to you for security reasons. Whether or not the methods are ethical is irrelevant. What is relevant is the level of compromise you've brought with your meddling."

Simon was extremely pissed off. "My sister had her skull drilled into over and over again." The veins in his forehead were bulging, his fists were clenching, and his teeth were grinding. "Ethics is not an issue. Humanity is the issue. What those men did to her… What they did to her is inhumane. The blue hand men are hardly better than reavers."

"Reavers partake in cannibalism for their own selfish gain. What we're doing is for the greater good of humanity. While it is deplorable, it is necessary for progression."  
Walken realized the interrogation was going nowhere. He noticed the ring on Simon's clenched fist. "When did you get that?"

"I cannot disclose that to you for security reasons. It's a highly sensitive, top secret, matter." Simon answered mockingly.

Walken walked towards Simon. "I can understand that. You see this?" He motioned to his own finger. As Simon glanced down at the ring, Walken quickly formed a fist and punched him in the nose. He grinned as he watched the blood flow from Simon's nose and his eyes water in pain. "That I got nearly thirty years ago. I tell you, the feeling one gets when you feel that gold band is indescribable. What's even more indescribable is the indignation of using it as an interrogation tool. Now before I have to use even more drastic instruments of interrogation, I'll ask you again. When did you get that ring?"

* * *

Zoe slowly climbed down the ladder into his room. "Sir, have you made a decision yet?" She needed to know what to do. If they were going to act, they needed to do it soon.

Mal's back was towards her. He stood in his room, feet planted firmly on the ground, and hands stationed on his waist. His eyes focused on a tiny scratch of paint on the wall.

"Sir?" Zoe had seen Mal like this once or twice before. She knew it was a hard decision to make. She was partly glad it wasn't her that had to make it. Whatever Mal decided, she would support it. Mal just needed to decide soon.

"Ain't like it was back on Jiangyin." Mal said softly. "We wouldn't be taken on hill folk. We'd be taken on the whole Alliance." He lowered his head. "Wouldn't even know where to find 'em."

Zoe walked towards him. Standing just a few steps behind him, she placed a soothing hand on his tense shoulder. "Either road we go down ain't going to be easy."

"After dealin' with Niska, an army of Alliance patrol should be nuthin." He reasoned.

"It's a fair assessment to say we'd be greatly outnumbered, sir."

"Even if we had the numbers…" Mal shook his head. "I don't like leavin' anyone behind, but risking everyone to go after the doc…" Mal turned around to face Zoe. "How am I supposed to tell Kaylee?"

* * *

Simon wiped away the blood from his face. "I don't see how my ring is of any relevance." He paused for a second before intently staring Walken in the eyes. "What are you doing with my sister?"

"We are reviewing her to see if the damage you've done is reversible. The ring is of relevance because it may be the only thing that's going to get you out of here. We don't care about you. We care about what you know and what you've done. But as for yourself, you're just another cog in the machine, easily replaced. You're nothing but a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things. It would make for an open and shut case, but seeing as how there's at least one other who actually gives a damn about you, that makes you desirable to us. As for whomever it is on the other end of the line fishing for you, we will bring them down to the bottom of the ocean, thus solving the problem once and for all."

"I'd rather you kill me than bring anyone else into this hell."

"It doesn't matter if you are alive or dead. We will find those who know of this security breach and eradicate them. Now we could very easily let you go, erase specific aspects of your brain and the people who know of your situation. We'd give you all a fresh start, a blissful ignorance. All we ask in return is for you to tell what you know and what you've done."

"I'd rather be dead than have you erase the only things I care about. Besides, no one knows anything of value. I don't even know all the horrible things that have been done to her." Simon had calmed himself down some. He needed to divert his energy towards fighting off his uncontrollable urge to bash his head against the wall. The guilt of the Alliance possibly finding Kaylee because of him was overwhelming. "No one knows anything…nothing."

Walken looked at Simon oddly. He pulled out a flask from his briefcase and opened the top. Very quickly he grabbed Simon's hand and pulled out a knife, slicing his hand diagonally. He watched Simon grit his teeth as he poured alcohol over the open wound. "You lied. I don't like liars." He took out a cloth from his coat pocket and threw it at Simon. "Clean yourself up and stop whining. From here on, this is going to be as good as it gets." He began walking towards the door, but stopped, turned around and said one last thing to Simon before exiting the room. "And the sound of screaming infuriates me."

* * *

When Wash awoke the next morning, his wife was sitting on their bed, her back towards him. His head was beating like a drum. "What time is it?" Wash asked groggily.

Zoe didn't answer him right away. She'd been thinking about what she was going to say to him all night, but nothing, nothing prepared her for what she was feeling right now. She was hurt and enraged. She'd usually been able to keep her cool, but at this moment she felt like a kettle waiting to whistle. It was only a matter of time before the steam would rise.

"Zoe…." Wash sat up in bed and saw her to his side. He reached out a hand for her and felt hurt when she rejected his advance.

"Do you realize what you have done?" Her tone was cold.

"What I've done?" Wash was confused. He'd just woken up, how could he have done something already? He sat there, dumbfounded.

"Fugitives." Zoe impatiently blurted out.

The word felt like a sword piercing his heart, but he didn't know why. "Zoe?" He questioned with a blank expression upon his face. "What did I do?"

"Husband, what you did was unforgivable. I wouldn't blame Kaylee if she never spoke to you again." Her words were filled with anger and disgust. "I wouldn't blame anyone if they never spoke to you again."

Wash was feeling so many different emotions all at the same time. He had no idea why Zoe was acting this way. What could he have done that was so devastating? He didn't remember a gorram thing. "Zoe, if you're going to hate me, I'd like to know why!" Wash was frustrated.

"Fine, I'll tell you why." Zoe turned to her husband and began reminding him of his actions from the previous night.

* * *

The next five days passed by slowly. Kaylee had spent them curled up in the soft, silky sheets of Inara's bed. The pillow was tear soaked, but she still laid her head upon it. She barely even noticed it was wet. All she felt was emptiness inside.

"Meimei, I think you need to eat something." Inara ran her fingers through Kaylee's hair. It had been days since she washed it. It had been days since she changed her clothes.

"Not hungry." Kaylee said in between sobs.

"Simon would want you to eat something. He wouldn't…"

Inara was cut short by Kaylee's motion. She had sat up in the bed and was staring at Inara. "Simon isn't here now is he!" Kaylee yelled as more tears trailed down her cheeks at an expedited rate.

Inara knew Kaylee didn't mean to snap at her. She pulled Kaylee into her arms. She held her tight, all the while trying to think of something to say. Words would mean nothing, she thought. There wasn't a right thing to say. All the training in the 'verse couldn't provide anything to fill the emptiness nesting inside Kaylee.

_**knock**_

Mal thought this was one of those times when knocking was appropriate. He'd done a lot of hard things in his life, but what he was about to do made everything else seem easy as pie.

"Come in," Inara said.

Hesitantly, Mal walked into her shuttle. "I need a minute alone with Kaylee."

Inara nodded her head. She gave Kaylee a tight squeeze before letting her go.

* * *

It had become a normal routine for the young girl to enter his cell this time of day. She always brought him a tray of food, sat it down next to him, and left the room. She never said a word, but she always watched Simon from the corner of her eye.

"Do you know what they've done to her?" Simon asked her this every day. She'd always just walk away, but today she flinched when he asked him. She did know something, Simon thought. "Please, tell me. I promise I won't let anyone know."

She stood still, her back towards him. "I can't." She whispered.

"You can't actually think what they are doing is right, can you?" Simon continued to question the girl.

"I'm sorry. I can't say anything. I'll get in trouble." Her tone was sympathetic and apologetic at the same time.

"Do you have any siblings? Wouldn't you like to know what's been happening to them?" He didn't want to raise his voice or sound aggressive. He could tell the girl was very fragile.

"I can't." She bit her bottom lip as she turned around to face him. "They'll kill me."

"So you're afraid of them?" Simon raised his eyebrow.

"Not afraid, just doing my job." Her eyes wandered to the tray of food. "Please eat something today."

"Why do you care whether or not I eat?"

"She'd wanted me to tell you to." She said softly. "Your sister told me to tell you." Her eyes fell to the floor in shame. If Travis Walken had found out what she had just done, the consequences would be unbearable.

Simon didn't respond. For the first time in nearly a week he had confirmation that his sister was still alive. That she was at least okay enough to worry about him. He looked up at the young girl and studied her. She couldn't have been more than a few years older than Kaylee. She didn't smile, she didn't frown. Her face was almost expressionless. "What's your name?"

"Kiara." She said shyly.

"Kiara, how is it that you came to work for the Alliance?"

"A government job seemed stable and there was an opening here for an administrative assistant four years ago. They hired me and I've been here ever since."

"You must know a lot." Simon was very interested in her. She obviously knew something and he couldn't be sure, but he strongly felt she might be willing to tell him.

"I can't do this." She said nervously as she turned around and headed out the door.

The door to his cell may have closed, but Simon felt a door of hope opening. Kiara just might be his way out of here.

* * *

Mal sat down on the bed next to Kaylee. She had immediately brought her head into his lap. He stroked her hair for several minutes. Neither one said a word. Finally, Mal decided the silence was just as bad as what was about to come. "Meimei, I've spent several days thinkin' on this and I just don't see how we can go after the doc."

The tears that had vanished by the warmth of her captain's lap were now turned back on, full flood. She didn't have the strength to look at him. She just laid in his lap. "We can't just leave him."

"Kaylee we don't know where he is and even if we did, we can't fight an army of Alliance officials." Mal hated himself for having to make this decision. He was doing the right thing. He couldn't risk them all. He just couldn't. "I'm sorry, but we have to move on."

"I love him." Kaylee cried harder. Mal's decision was echoing in her mind. _We have to move on_. How could she move on? How could she just let him go? She couldn't. Mal couldn't. He just couldn't. "I love him."

"Little Kaylee, this ain't a matter of whether or not you love Simon. It's a snowball's chance in hell of even finding where he is and if we do get that chance, I can't order my crew to risk their lives for them." He was doing every thing he could to hold back his own tears. "Gettin' us all killed ain't going to bring the doc back."

"He's one of the crew. You've said it before. He wouldn't leave you behind."

The truth behind Kaylee's words hurt. Mal knew it was true, but the cons of this situation weighed drastically, fatally even, over the pros. He had made his decision. Kaylee was going to have to move on. "I ain't turning my back against my crew. I'm protecting the majority. I'm doing what's good for the whole." He gently pushed Kaylee's head off his lap as he stood up. "I'm sorry, Kaylee, but that's my decision."

Kaylee was hurt. She felt all alone. Her only hope of finding her husband and bringing him back home rested in the hands of her captain. Her captain had just crushed that hope. She was rightfully upset. "Fine that's your decision, but you're gonna be the one telling my baby why he doesn't have a father."

He had one foot out the door and upon hearing the word 'baby', he froze. He took a step backwards, shutting the shuttle door. He slowly turned around and looked at Kaylee. "What did you say?"

"I'm pregnant." Kaylee whispered. He tears stopped for the moment.

Mal felt lightheaded. He needed to sit down. Next to Kaylee was as good a spot as any. "Meimei, how did this happen?"

"Cap'n, you know how babies are made." Kaylee took his hand in hers. "Mine was made no different."

"You haven't even been married a month yet." Mal was in disbelief. He thought he'd already experienced rock bottom, he sure as hell hadn't expected it to get any deeper.

"In three days we'd be celebratin' our one month anniversary and I'll be six weeks pregnant." Kaylee had pictured spending their one month anniversary locked up in their bunk. In their minds, they'd be the only two souls on Serenity. A single tear fell down her cheek as she now realized the hopelessness of that reality. She didn't want to think about that anymore. She focused her mind on memories. "When we were visiting my family, Simon and I spent some quality time together in a linen closet." For the first time in days, she smiled. Next to her wedding, that closet contained the best moment of her life.

"So you're telling me my little niece or nephew was conceived in a closet?" Mal chuckled. If Kaylee was going to bring a baby into this world, leave it to her to have an original conception. He'd imagine the actual delivery would be quite a story as well.

The thought slowly circled Mal's mind, the delivery. There was going to be a baby, an innocent little baby. The most difficult roads have their share of forks. Though for Mal, this fork seemed to only point one direction. He couldn't be responsible for Kaylee's baby never knowing his or her father. It just wasn't right. He'd have to try to find the doc. If he couldn't, at least he'd tried. At least he'd given that baby a chance to know his or her father. There was a long silence between the two before Mal stood up and headed towards the shuttle door.

"Cap'n, where are you going?"

"That baby of yours is going to be here in eight months. I'd rather let Simon deliver it than any of us." With that being said, Mal walked out of the room, the shuttle door closing behind him and Kaylee rejuvenated with hope.

To be continued…


	3. Chapter Three

**Part Three**

"_Am I sick?" She was a bit apprehensive about finding out the answer. Her nervous fingers began playing with a loose string on her pajama pants. _

_Sitting next to her on the examining table, he took her hands in his, attempting to calm her nerves. "No, no you're not sick." He looked deeply into her eyes as he told her the diagnosis. "You're pregnant."_

_"Pregnant? I think I need to sit down." Kaylee Tam was in such shock she didn't realize she was already sitting down._

_"I thought you were taking those contraception injections from Inara?" He, too, had been just as stunned when he read the test results. He was still slightly shocked. _

"_I was. I do. Every morning as soon as I wake up, I do. How could this happen?" She looked into his eyes seeking answers. _

_"I don't know. I can't think of a..." He suddenly realized it._

"_Simon? You can't think of a...?" She desperately urged him to continue his thought. _

_"I just did—the linen closet. We were woken up in the middle of the night by the gunshot. We'd both been overly concerned with the situation. I'd forgotten all about River's medication. I suspect you didn't remember your injections either." _

"_Oh." She thought back to that night. She had been so frazzled. She was distracted and she simply forgot. Several minutes passed in silence. "I'm going to be a mom. That means your going to be a dad. We are going to be a mom and dad." She said the words out loud as if she was trying to convince herself they were true. _

"_Yeah." Simon was still trying to regain his composure. This was so unexpected. _

_The news finally settled in. Kaylee turned towards Simon and excitedly said, "I'm going to be a mom. You're going to be a dad." She was grinning like a fool and even more excitement filled her voice. "Simon, we are going to be a mom and dad!"_

_The news hadn't sunk in with Simon all that well. "Yeah, a mom and dad with three aunts, uncles, and a captain who might not take this too well." He looked at Kaylee. While her face reflected excitement, his reflected unease. "I don't think we should be broadcasting the news to the crew just yet." _

"_Nah, Cap'n will be happy. How can he not be?" Kaylee was still smiling ever so brightly. "But if you think we should wait to tell him and the others, we can do that." She kissed him on the cheek" "I'm so happy." She finally noticed Simon seemed a bit off. "You're happy, too...aren't you?"_

"_I...I...I don't know what I am, really. This changes everything. On the one hand, I'm going to be a father. On the other hand, said father is a fugitive. I'm just getting used to the idea of having a wife, let alone a pregnant one. And I don't know day by day whether we have a long future ahead or a very short one." He sighed. "I did fantasize about having children with you. I just didn't think it would be less than a year after we were married."_

"_Simon, babies are a blessing. They are the most magnificent wonders in the 'verse. This wasn't how I saw us either. I'd given us a few years before we started a family, but now that it's happened, I think that's how it was supposed to happen. You being a fugitive don't make a difference. It didn't make a difference in being a husband and it won't make a difference in being a father. I always wanted a big family. We're just startin' it off a bit sooner than most is all."_

"_I suppose you're right. We do have at least eight months to worry about this. But let's just keep this between you, me, and River for now." He wrapped his arm around Kaylee's shoulders feeling a bit more at ease. A small smile even settled upon his face. "As for the large family, let's at least wait until the charges are dropped before we start on baby number four."_

_Kaylee leaned her head against his shoulder. Happy thoughts of her and Simon together with their baby were filling her mind. Simon kissed the top of her head. Similar thoughts were flowing through his mind. His smile widened. He was going to be dad. _

_**Bang!**_

Simon quickly awoke, dreams being left behind, and jumped to his feet at the sound of the slamming door.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to slam it." Kiara apologized. "Doors get the best of me sometimes. I brought you lunch."

"Kiara, I know I'm a doctor and not a psychologist, but I think I can tell when something isn't sitting right with a person."

"Simon, I understand your desire, your need even, to know what is happening to River, but I can't help you with that." She sat down the tray of food. "Ask me for an extra dinner roll and that I can do. Ask me to reveal top secret information, I cannot."

Simon looked into her eyes. He saw a true sadness. "What about a favor? Can you do me a favor?"

Simon's plea tugged on her heart strings, but she couldn't help. Simon needed to get that information processed in his brain. She just couldn't help. Frustrated, she turned her back and started heading out the door. "Again if it involves…"

Simon interrupted her. "I promise this favor is not related to top secret information or my sister." Kiara froze in her tracks. "I need you to send a wave, that's all."

She turned around and walked closer to Simon. "What's the catch?"

His eyes met hers. "There is no catch, honest." His words were sincere.

She figured if he was lying he wouldn't have looked her in the eyes. Damn it, things were getting complicated. She didn't want to deal with complications. "Simon, I'm not a little girl. I realize there has to be a catch. There is a catch to everything in life." She wanted to storm off. She didn't. She stayed put. He looked so desperate. She knew he was.

"All I want is for you to send a wave saying the name of the planet we are on, just the name and nothing else. Waves can be sent anonymously. It'd be a long shot, but at this point, what wouldn't be." Surely, if the crew were to receive a mysterious wave with the name of a planet, they would come, they would understand it was a clue, wouldn't they?

"The computers here are all monitored. Even if I wanted to, whoever I sent the wave to would be brought in for questioning immediately."

"So don't send the wave from here." Simon never particularly thought of himself as being clever, but sometimes he thought of something so brilliant, he couldn't help but feel proud. "In fact, forget what I said about sending the name of this planet. Send a request to an Inara Serra seeking her companionship."

"Excuse me?" A blushing Kiara didn't know whether to be offended, appalled, or both.

"Inara Serra is a registered companion in the Guild. Send her a wave asking her for companionship."

"Dr. Tam, I am sorry, but you are one fruit short of a fruitcake. I do not need a companion, thank you. And I don't see how my sex life is any of your concern nor how it could help you in anyway unless you are one of those guys who gets off on two women being together, but I assure you, if I was going to seek out a companion, I would not invite you over to watch. Good day, Dr. Tam." She hurried out of the room, face red in embarrassment, purposely slamming the door behind her.

* * *

An entire month had passed and nothing had changed. Wash was still very much unwelcome by everyone. Except for his wife and the Shepherd, no one really spoke to him. He was convinced the only reason why the two that did speak to him did so only because of some higher laws. One that said, 'for better and worse' and another that said 'treat all others as you wish to be treated'. If it wasn't for the sacredness of marriage vows and the moral lessons found in the bible, Wash was sure all his conversations would be one-sided. 

He wasn't surprised when he walked into an empty kitchen. He'd purposely been coming late to breakfast. He couldn't look at Kaylee. Not after what he'd done. He felt too guilty. He never would have thought it possible for Kaylee to hate anyone, but after what he'd done, he was sure if she ever did, he deserved to be hated. He wouldn't blame her if she hated him, not one bit. He poured himself a cup of coffee and sighed as he sat down at the table. Loneliness sucked, he thought to himself.

"Good morning, Son." Shepherd Book walked into the kitchen and helped himself to some coffee.

Wash forced a half smile and tried to sound somewhat enthused. "Morning Shepherd."

"Son, you understand it's only a matter of time, don't you? The others just need to work though their emotions."

"And how long does that take?" He pounded his fist against the table. His anger wasn't directed towards Book, only towards himself.

"Unfortunately, since Mal gave word they were going to try finding them, closure might take awhile. Plus, the news of the little one on the way only heightens the situation."

"Find them?" Wash sat up in his chair. "How long…. Why didn't…." Wash paused as another reality sank in. "I guess I can't be trusted to know that. Better watch what you tell me, Shepherd. We don't need anything else broadcasted to the Alliance."

"Self induced pity will not bring Simon and River home." Book sat down across from Wash. "If you turned all that negative energy into something positive, something worthwhile, the results could be astonishing." He took a sip of his coffee. "Maybe even somewhat short of a miracle."

"Shepherd, are you saying what I think you are saying?" Hope wasn't an emotion Wash had experienced lately, but he believed the Shepherd was giving him that very feeling.

"What is it that you think I am saying?" He knew Wash had to come to this conclusion and make this decision for himself. He was just there to offer support and guidance.

"I should stop feeling sorry for myself and start looking for them."

"You do have the determination." He guided, now he would support.

"At this point Shepherd, that's all I have left." Wash took a final sip of coffee and headed out of the room. It finally dawned on him, little one. He froze in the doorway. "Shepherd, did you say something about a little one?"

"Kaylee is expecting." He hoped the news would only throw another log onto the fire. He hoped Wash wouldn't cave with more guilt. Wash needed to be strong.

"Expecting as in expecting a baby?" He was astonished. He'd figured if anyone was going to have a baby on this ship it would be him and Zoe. Not the kids. Kids having kids, the thought was overwhelming. The thought of one particular kid, Kaylee having to raise the little one all by herself was devastating. He wasn't going to let that happen.

"She's two months along. That child will be here sooner than we realize it."

He had seven months. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he knew he _was_ going to do it. Even if it was the last thing he ever did, he would find the Tams. He would make sure Kaylee's baby grew up with a father.

* * *

_It wasn't extravagant by any means. It was simple. It was quiet. It was romantic. It was a cozy little Bed and Breakfast overlooking the lake where he had proposed. It was where they would spend their first night together as man and wife. _

_Clumsy fingers fumbled with the key. Had the door knob been a patient, a serious malpractice suit would have followed. Then again, trying to open up a door with a somewhat overeager bride in his arms, who wasn't letting her lips part his neck, kissing him on that very spot she knew drove him wild, would be an airtight defense for any man._

_He felt like Moses parting the Red Sea when the obstacle was finally overcome. He carried her over the threshold and laid her upon the soft, silky, bright red sheets that covered the extra soft, plush mattress. The bed had been covered in rose pedals by special request of the good doctor. He didn't notice them though. He was too focused on her. She was breathtakingly beautiful. His fingers, being of somewhat more use now than before, had managed to unzip her dress. He ran his hand along her bare back. She was so warm. He kissed her neck as he slowly slid the dress off of her. The blue lingerie had looked sexy on the hanger, but after seeing the teddy on his wife, sexy was no longer adequate enough to describe it. He was sure there were no words known to man that would be. A simple, "Wow", was all he managed to say, but he needn't say more. The look on his face expressed what words could not._

"_Your turn." A sexy little smile formed on her face as she ran her hands up his chest and underneath his jacket, quickly sliding it off. She had loosened his tie and her teeth were quickly working on the buttons of his shirt while her fingers fumbled with his belt. It was then when a familiar smell caught her attention. Her eyes widened and her smile grew. "STRAWBERRIES," she exclaimed as she lunged for the bowl sitting on the nightstand. _

"_Huh?" Simon's mind had been taken over by other, more aroused, parts of his body. It took him a few minutes to fully grasp what had just happened. "Kaylee, those are for later." He laughed as he pulled her into his arms. The bowl of strawberries came with her. "There are certain things I thought we would do to work up an appetite." _

_His hot breath created goosebumps along the back of her neck. She couldn't see it, but she knew he was wearing that sexy little, devious grin of his. She just smiled as she leaned against his chest. "We could do that," she said as she bit into a strawberry, "or you could feed them to me first." She turned so that she could look into his eyes. "And Simon," she said as she took another bite of the fruit, its juices squirting, streaming down her chin, "I think you might enjoy that."_

_She was too beautiful and extremely to sexy to argue with, Simon reasoned. He tossed her backwards onto the bed, laid himself on top of her, and began kissing away the sweet juices on her chin._

"Kaylee," Inara had placed her hand on Kaylee's shoulder. "Meimei, wake up."

A reluctant Kaylee awoke from her nap on the couch. "'Nara…"

"Meimei, are you feeling alright? You were moaning." Kaylee had sat up, leaving room for Inara to sit down next to her.

"If I'm moaning like that again, don't wake me." Kaylee was partly blushing. "Please, don't wake me." She grinned.

"That good?" Inara chuckled.

"Better than good, 'Nara." Kaylee was still a bit dazed. Dreaming about their wedding night had left a warm, fuzzy feeling inside of her.

"Well then, I am terribly sorry to have woken you. Next time I'll try and distinguish between a pleasure induced moan and a pain induced moan."

The happiness of Kaylee's dream soon wore off. Her hands nestled upon her stomach. "How can I raise a baby without him?"

Inara knew it was a slim chance of finding Simon, but she also knew she couldn't let Kaylee think that. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but she didn't want to get them down either. "Kaylee, you of all people should be working on making welcome home decorations. You once told me without hope, we have nothing at all. You said the sun always comes up so why not be shiny." She took Kaylee's hands in hers. "Let's not sit around discussing the 'what ifs'. Let's take this day by day, minute by minute if we have to. And if seven more months pass and we have been unable to find Simon all that means is your baby won't be delivered by a doctor, but a captain, or a first-mate, a pilot, a shepherd, or even a companion. Once your baby is here, we will all be around to help until we can find Simon, dong ma?"

"Just promise me it won't be the mercenary delivering my baby." She jokingly pleaded.

Inara laughed as she pulled Kaylee into her arms. She'd give anything to make sure her words to Kaylee came true, that they would in fact find Simon.

* * *

It was very late in the evening. The majority of Alliance officials had already called it a night. Travis Walken however was still very much involved with his work. Papers covered his desk, drawers to filing cabinets were hanging wide open, and files upon files were scattered across the floor. He was so deeply involved with paperwork he didn't notice Kiara standing at his door. 

"You wanted to see me?" She slowly entered the room, closing the door behind her ever so softly.

He looked up at her, acknowledging her, and motioned for her to sit down, quickly returning his eyes to the paperwork. "Back on the earth-that-was in 1969 a man walked on the moon and they felt that was a great accomplishment for mankind. If those dumb bastards could only see us now, they'd shit their pants." He smirked. "I've got an assignment for you."

"Okay, what do you need to me to do?" Sitting in his office made her extremely uncomfortable.

"Interrogate the prisoner." He ordered without ever looking up at her.

"Excuse me?" She was shocked. Surely, she didn't hear him correctly.

He let the papers rest, and brought his eyes to hers. "I realize this is not your area of expertise, but he's stubborn. No matter what I do to him, he will not tell me a thing. You on the other hand Kiara, you are a horribly caring person, he may confide in you."

Horribly caring? How someone could use the word horrible to describe caring boggled her mind. "I don't know why you'd think that. I can't even imagine why you'd need me to do this. Don't you already know everything you need to?"

"He wears a wedding ring. He's married, but I'll be damned if I can find a record of that marriage. I've had people on it ever since we brought the Tams in over a month ago. It's time I change strategies. I want you to get close to this boy, make him trust you. Make him think you are a friend to him. Find out who it is that he's married to."

"Then crush him?" She blurted out, extremely upset. The idea of deceiving someone and hurting them made her sick to her stomach.

Walken raised his voice. "Kiara, you will do as I say, nothing more, nothing less. Do I make myself clear?" He pounded his fist on the desktop.

"Clear, Sir." She said with a bitter tone.

He rose from his chair and walked towards her. "Kiara, I wouldn't ask unless it was important. You understand, right? This is for the good of mankind. He and his wife are the small, necessary sacrifices needed to achieve our goal. By doing this you will have earned yourself a spot on the list of whom to thank for this major breakthrough."

Travis Walken was not the same man. He'd changed. Either that or she had just been too stupid to realize his true self. He made her sick. "Yes." She didn't think she could respond in any other fashion.

* * *

"Jayne, what in the gorram hell are you doing?" Every night Mal wandered his ship, making sure she and all her passengers were safe. Most nights he came across no one. He liked those nights. They were much better than the nights he found his mercenary lurking around half naked in the dark. 

"Gettin' a snack." He had opened up nearly all the cupboards, rummaging through them like a raccoon trying to find something to satisfy his appetite.

"And you can't do that while wearing pants?"

"Ain't no rules about wearing pants on this ship." With a lack of variety, Jayne finally decided to go with a brown protein bar.

"It's implied that no one wants to see your gorram, white ass legs." Mal decided as long as he was in the kitchen, he might as well snack. As long as his eyes stayed off Jayne's legs, he wouldn't lose his appetite.

"Don't need to look at 'em. I wouldn't be lookin' at yers." He barked back.

"Yeah instead of gawking at my legs, you'd prefer to spoon me. Don't think I've forgotten about that. I still have nightmares." He grabbed himself a protein bar and joined Jayne at the table.

"Really think we've got a shot?" Jayne asked in between bites.

"Ain't thinkin' otherwise. There's a baby coming, we need a doc to deliver it, and the baby's father just happens to be that doc."

"So watcha gonna do with Wash?"

"Ain't gonna do nothin'. He's suffering in his own guilty hell. 'Sides, he's a package deal. If I kick him out of the airlock, there goes my first mate and I ain't about to find me another one."

"Think they'll kill 'em?" Jayne asked with his mouth full of protein.

"Ain't gonna think that. Just gonna focus on finding 'em. We'll worry on the details when we get there." They'd get there. Mal was set on it. They'd continue to do jobs, they couldn't fly anywhere without money to pay for fuel anyways, but in their free time, they would do everything they could to track down the Tams. He wasn't going to rest until he found them.

* * *

The next morning Simon was anxiously awaiting Kiara's daily visit. He needed to explain to her what he'd ask the day before. He needed to convince her to follow along with his plan. She was his only hope. He needed her. 

The door opened right on schedule and in she walked. She looked particularly unhappy to be there this morning.

"Kiara, I need to explain to you what I've asked of you. Please, listen." He begged her, but she did not look at him. "I promise if you hear me out and you say no, then I won't ask again. Give me two minutes, please."

Sincerity was a quality she admired. It was so rarely found. She couldn't deny his request. "Two minutes and not a second longer."

"I want you to seek companionship from Inara Serra because she might be my only way out of here. She's a friend."

"Dr. Tam, you are…are…" She hated how it was impossible to cover embarrassment. She was blushing. She knew it. She took a moment, gathering her thoughts. "S-she, I mean the Companion, Inara, you know her? She would really come here if I sent her a wave?"

"Most clients reach her through the Guild Directory. With any luck when she gets your wave she'll wonder how you obtained her private address. If you are persistent with these waves, she'll have to think there is more to it than just a companionship request. She's a very smart woman."

"Still, I don't see how a companion, friend or not, can get you out of here. Your two minutes are up, Dr. Tam." She turned around and headed for the door.

Simon grabbed onto her arm, stopping her attempted exit." Wait, it's more than just her being a companion. She is with a group of people that could get me out of here."

She raised her eyebrow. She remembered Walken's order. _Find out who it is that he's married to._ "Your wife is in this group?"

"Yes, she is." Simon released her arm and leaned against the wall. The reality that his only chance of ever seeing his wife again might be slipping away was sinking in. "She's with them."

To be continued...


	4. Chapter Four

**Part Four**

Another month had passed and Mal still had no leads on finding the Tams. His normal nightly routine of wandering Serenity had become a time for his thoughts to explore hundreds of possibilities. However, with every passing night, the hundreds of ideas began to slowly decline. Tonight his mind was a total blank. He had absolutely no clue how he was going to find them.

As he wandered into the kitchen he was pleasantly surprised to see Inara pouring herself a cup of tea. "You're up late." He reached into a cupboard and pulled himself out a mug.

"It's been hard sleeping lately." She smiled, not allowing her exhaustion to show through. "Isn't it a bit later than usual for yourself?" She began pouring Mal a cup of tea.

"Doesn't seem right to sleep when there's stuff to be done." As he reached for his mug, his fingers brushed lightly against hers. It was only for a split second, but he smiled and she blushed. "What's your excuse?"

"I'm worried about Kaylee. This has been so hard on her and the symptoms of her pregnancy are only adding to the toll. I feel like the only thing I can offer her is to hold back her hair during her morning sickness and that's not much of anything. Not anything she truly needs anyhow." Inara sighed.

"She's a tough kid. She'll make it through this just like we all will." He took a sip of his tea. "That includes all the kids. Simon and River will be found…somehow. That ain't somethin' I can give up on."

One of the many qualities she loved about Mal was his good heart. All too often he let it guide his decisions. Sure he'd back those heart-based decisions with sound reasons, but that was Mal. Masculinity always surpassed feelings. He was nothing more than a sweet candy center inside a hard outer shell. On the flip side of things, one quality she hated in Mal was how he fought his heart on many issues that seemed so simple. Such an issue was her. "Maybe it's wrong for me to ask with all that is going on, but I don't understand how it is possible for us to spend one beautifully romantic evening together only to pretend it never happened later on. I need to know where you and I stand."

Mal practically gulped down his remaining tea. He took a deep breath before he began to speak. "I wasn't rightly sure how you felt about that night. I've been looking for a sign."

"I wasn't aware I needed to send out a solar flare to get your attention." She was a little more than hurt. Was she so insignificant to him that he couldn't notice her feelings?

Mal replied with undisguised bitterness. "You are a complex woman, Inara. One night you act like you're mine and the very next day you are off whoring again."

"So that's what it comes down to, my occupation?" On top of being hurt, she was frustrated. It seemed like most of their fights revolved around this topic.

"If you can call whoring an occupation." He knew it was mean, but it's how he felt. He believed no woman should have to do that.

"Malcolm Reynolds, you make me ill. If it wasn't for Kaylee I'd have half a mind to leave this ship for good." She was more than angry. She was furious.

"Don't let Kaylee be a reason stopping ya. She's got more than enough folk here to watch after her."

"Some more qualified than others." She directed a nasty glance towards Mal and stormed out of the kitchen.

* * *

It was late. It had been another long day at the office. She wanted nothing more than to go home. Needless to say she was disappointed, and even a little panicky, when she found the note on her desk.She took a deep breath and walked into his office having absolutely no idea what to expect.

Travis Walken noticed her standing in the doorway, but he didn't bother to look up and acknowledge her. "Here's a little fact, I don't know if you know it or not, but here it is anyways. By the age of either three or four, fifty percent of a person's cognitive development will have already developed. That means that half of whom you are, how you interact with the outside world, and your mental functions are established before you hit kindergarten."

She hated his off-the-wall, sociological factoids. They always made her edgy. "That's not surprising. There are lots of adults who still act like they are in kindergarten." Nervously, she asked, "So you wanted to see me?"

He ignored her question. "It's interesting to me, because we have so many profiles on billions of people, nothing huge or major, just regular fact sheets of common people living common lives. We know them better than they know themselves and with that little bit of sociology there, it should be easy for us to find out everything about them. I mean, we should know half their story before they know half the alphabet. And yet, it's that other fifty percent that prevents us from ever truly knowing them. It's both infuriating and fascinating."

"Yes, fascinating...and infuriating. But no one can know everything. We just weren't meant to. Knowledge is power. If everyone had knowledge, we'd all be on the same level. Besides, life was meant to have mystery." Uncomfortable couldn't begin to describe how she was feeling. She wanted nothing more than to leave. She started making her way for the exit. "Umm...if you didn't need me, I was going to take off. It's late and tomorrow is the start of another long day so..."

"Did I tell you to leave?" He finally looked up at her. She wished he hadn't.

Nothing scared her more than that look on his face. Some might describe it as the angry look of Satan himself. "No, I just thought..." Feeling scared and stupid she sat down in front of his desk. "Sorry, Mr. Walken."

"The reason I asked you here is because of that other fifty percent. The fifty percent we don't know about. Particularly on our young doctor and whatever space whore he conned into wearing that cheap little silver band around her finger."

_Your wife is in this group_? _Yes, she is. She's with them. Kaylee, my wife, her name is Kaylee. _Her conversation with Simon replayed in her mind. She couldn't explain why she was about to do what she was going to do. She was a smart girl. She knew lying to a man like Travis Walken could be a fatal mistake, but for whatever reason, she didn't care. She lied. "You were right about him. He is very stubborn. I've done everything I can to get information out of him, but he won't talk to me. I guess he doesn't care for me too much. I can't blame him. I do work for the very people he's against. I don't think there is anything left that I can do to get him to open up to me. It's a hopeless task. He obviously cares for his wife a great deal, which is no surprise seeing how he risked his whole life for his sister. There is just nothing else I can do. I'm sorry, Mr. Walken." Lying wasn't really her forte, but she hoped she was skilled enough.

Walken gave her a strange look. The same strange look he gave Simon right before he punched him. "Stand up." He ordered.

"Okay..." She got up out of the chair. Not that she did, but if she had, no one would have blamed her for wetting her pants. She was scared out of her mind. It seemed like hours passed by during the time it took him to walk from his desk to her.

He examined her like a doctor would a patient. He stood directly in front of her. "So you really don't know anything about the good doctor, do you?"

"No, nothing, honest. What possible reason could I have for keeping something from you?" More lies. She prayed he couldn't tell.

"Because you are afraid." Very quickly, his hand shot out and clenched her throat. He squeezed hard and even lifted her off the ground. "Afraid of me, afraid that what you know could hurt you, and afraid that if you choose one side over the other, you'd be betraying the trust of the people who have faith in you. That same faith you've been craving since you were a child. Now, before you asphyxiate and I have to begin interviewing replacements, tell me. What do you know?" He let go of her throat at the last minute.

"Nothing!" She gasped. "Not a gorram thing! This job is all I've got in the 'verse. I wouldn't do anything to compromise my position here." She gasped for more air. Talking was somewhat difficult. "I've worked with you for the past four years, you know me. How could you think I would betray you? Afraid of you, yes, I am afraid of you, which should be reason enough why I would NEVER betray you." She was starting to gain control of her wheezing. "Mr. Walken, I'm a little hurt that you would think otherwise." Not all of that was a lie. She was afraid, but she did betray him.

"In my position, it is imperative that you think various different things of the people you work with. You keep one hand stretched out in a handshake and the other in your pocket, fingering the switchblade that might come in handy. Now, you are a very loyal servant, and I am sorry that I nearly crushed your larynx, but as you know, deplorable actions must be done in order to attain progress." He sat back down at his desk. "Go now. I'll lock up afterwards. You deserve a break." His attention quickly returned to his paperwork, acknowledging her no more.

She rubbed her neck. She was in disbelief it was still there, all in one piece. She was sure he had done severe damage. At least it felt that way. "Thank you, Sir. I'll see you in the morning then." She hustled out of his office.

"Good night." He said so politely, so friendly even. It was as if the last few minutes never happened or rather that he didn't care. After all, Kiara was disposable.

* * *

The next morning Kaylee was up bright and early. The kitchen looked as if a tornado had just passed through. Food items and dishes were scattered all about. She had cravings that led her to begin searching for something to suit her desires. She went from one thing to the next, leaving half eaten items laying all about.

"Miss Kaylee, I sure hope you are the one with kitchen duty today. If not, whoever does ain't going to be all that happy." Mal was happy to see Kaylee out of bed and searching for breakfast. It seemed like all the morning sickness had finally passed, leaving behind a ferocious appetite.

"Don't worry Cap'n, I wouldn't leave this mess for no one." She smiled as she stepped out from behind the counter, a healthy plate of assorted food in hand.

"Wow, you really are going to be a mom." He didn't realize he had said those words out loud. He hadn't meant to, but when he saw Kaylee walk out from behind the counter, he noticed for the first time.

"What did you think I was gonna be Cap'n?" She giggled as she sat down at the table.

"I could never tell before, but today, you… you just look like you are pregnant." He thought about what he'd just said. "That probably don't sound right." He tried to apologize.

"Nah, I know what you mean. I'm three months along. That's about the time women start to show. 'Nara downloaded me this timeline of what to expect off the Cortex. I'm really looking forward to month five." It was no secret that Kaylee loved strawberries. She had the feeling her baby did too. She craved strawberries. She craved strawberries and applesauce to be exact. Those foods weren't usually found on Serenity, but on their last trip planet side, Mal made sure to have Book swing by the market.

"What happens in month five?" Mal sat down across from her and picked at her plate. He reasoned she had enough food for three. Plus, as strange as it might be, dunking a strawberry into applesauce was rather tasty.

"That's about the time I'll be able to feel her kick." Kaylee said happily in between bites.

"Her? So is that a feelin' or more of a hopin'?" He asked in between bites of his own.

She shrugged her shoulders. "A little of both I guess."

"Well I can't see a little girl bein' called Malcolm. Maybe you can call her Mallory." He joked.

"That's actually a pretty shiny name, Cap'n. Jayne told me I could call her Jayne if I wanted to, but it'd be hard to give a girl that name, he said. I could barely keep a straight face." She laughed.

After her laughter ceased, a moment of silence drifted into the kitchen. Mal watched Kaylee's smile flatten. He didn't need to be a reader to know what she was thinking. "Simon will be back in time to name her. Can't imagine River will miss out on that either. The girl probably already knows what you're gonna choose anyways."

"It's been two months and we ain't even found out where they are." She pushed her plate towards Mal. Suddenly, her appetite was gone.

"Do you trust your captain?" He looked at her intently. She nodded her head. "Then trust your captain when he says he'll find Simon and River."

"I love my captain." She said with a hopeful smile.

* * *

_Cotton balls, or cumulus clouds as they were technically called, filled the sky. She'd spent many days just like this laying in the grass looking at them. Sometimes she would dream they were angel's beds. It was reassuring knowing they were watching down on her, keeping her safe. Other times she let her creativity soar. From puppies to cars, bicycles to banana splits, she could see it all. Her mind would dance back and forth from cloud to cloud, always amazed at how quickly they could travel and change shape. Even with as much joy as it brought her, that was the last day she ever looked up and saw something more than just clouds. _

_It was early evening when she heard the screams coming from inside her house. Screams weren't all that unusual, something of a routine nature actually, but the excruciating screeching sound accompanying them alarmed her. She left her cozy little spot in the lawn and made her way inside the home. As she walked in the doorway, she saw the man who called himself her father making his way to the basement just like he always did, setting himself apart from the world. As he stomped down the basement steps, muttering vulgarities under his breath, her mother went running down the hall to her bedroom. _

_She followed her mother down the hall and slowly walked into the bedroom, asking what was wrong. In between the sobs her mother managed to tell her it was her. They were fighting about her once again. Her mother began tossing a few items into a suitcase. "Kiara, you are fourteen years old. You should learn to accept what happens and move on. It doesn't matter if you are right and he is acting like the devil himself. Life is nothing but a disappointment. You should be thanking me you're learning this lesson now instead of having a midlife crisis later on. From now on, I'm staying out of it. You are on your own, completely on your own. Do not ask me for a thing. You want to be an adult, fine you are an adult. From now on whatever you want, you find your own way to get it. Clothes, food, school tuition, those are all your responsibility now. I'm done with you. I'm done having a daughter." Her mother shut the suitcase, fastened the locks, wiped away her stray tears, grabbed her bags, and headed out of the room, never looking back._

_She didn't cry. She hadn't really cried in years. It never solved anything. She knew ever since she was in diapers that she only had one crutch in life. The father figure could not be trusted. He was one lie after the next, with each additional one becoming worse and worse. The only emotion he was capable of was hate and he seemed to take pleasure directing that emotion towards her. Her mother, her crutch, could be trusted. She loved having a daughter, she wouldn't always defend her against the father, but she would comfort her. She would tell her things would be okay. She would tell her she just needed to give it time. As the years continued on, the father seemed to consume more hate and her mother weakened. _

_Even though her crutch became wobblier and wobblier as the years went on, it had always been there. It was the only constant in her life. She trusted it would always be that way. With this being said, the realism of that day, the reality behind the words of her only crutch finally snapping in two, leaving her with nothing more to lean on, was a brutal reality. _

_She walked back to her favorite spot in the yard and laid down. The clouds, once full of happiness and joy, now taunted her. They were no longer the bed of angels. They grew dark and thin, stretching across the sky forming into what she believed to be a sword and another resembling a heart. As the clouds floated along the sky, the one shaped of a sword slid through the one of the heart. That was the perfect visual for how she felt. From that day on she walked down the road of life crutchless, never trusting anyone again. _

She stood in front of the bathroom sink wearing only a bra and her Alliance-issued, uniform pants. She splashed some cool water in her face. She needed to wake up. She needed to leave the night, her bad dreams, behind her. She had to get to work after all. Travis Walken wasn't the kind to approve of tardiness. She had ten minutes before she needed to leave the house. She became fixated on the mirror that hung before her.

As she stared into her bathroom mirror, she asked herself the question, "Who am I?" She didn't have an answer. She used to think she had it all planned out. A few years ago she could have recited her future timeline. She'd always made it a point never to stray off the path. With that being said, it made her wonder how the hell she ended up in Oz. Where was the Scarecrow searching for a brain? Where was the Tin Man searching for a heart? Where was the Lion searching for courage? And where in the gorram hell was the yellow brick road that led to the wizard? The wizard would have the answers. He'd be able to tell her the way home. The way back to the life she knew. All she would need to do would be click her heels together three times and say 'there's no place like home'. "Where is home?" She asked herself. She sighed. She didn't have an answer for that question either.

She put on her uniform shirt, making sure to tuck it in smoothly. She'd spent last night re-ironing the collar, attempting to make it as crisp as possible. The crisper the collar, the taller it would stand, the more of her neck it would cover. It did in fact cover most of the bruises along her neck. She'd think of a story to explain the rest if anyone asked. She needed more practice at lying anyways. She couldn't help but think Walken still had some doubts about her honesty yesterday. She couldn't help but be frightened that he would find out. She knew if… She knew _when_ he found out he'd... She couldn't think about that now. She had to get to work. "Shit." She looked at the clock. She should have left ten minutes ago. She slid into her shoes and went running out the door.

* * *

Wash was sitting in the pilot's chair. Dark circles were painted around his bloodshot eyes. His hair was a mess and his facial expression was anything but happy. Sleep hadn't been an easy thing for him these past couple of months. It seemed like every time his eyes shut, the image of the Tams being kidnapped, tortured, sometimes even being killed flashed in his mind. They were nightmares, dreadfully vivid nightmares.

"Wash," She walked up behind him, placing her hands upon his tense shoulders, slowly starting to massage them. "You were gone again when I woke up this morning. Did you have another nightmare?"

"They keep getting worse. Only thing I know that can stop them is finding the kids." He placed his hand upon hers. "I've been searching as best as I know how and I haven't found out a thing." He sighed.

"Dear, it isn't going to be easy. The Alliance knows how to keep something covered up that they don't want let out. We know Simon and River are two needles in a haystack. Knowing that they are in that haystack ain't much, but a lot can be said for just knowing. Knowing gives us hope. There is only so much hay. Overtime, the needles will turn up. They might just be at the bottom of the bundle."

His wife was an incredible woman. Here she was, standing behind him, rubbing his shoulders, reassuring him that things would turn out for the best. Even though he knew she had no fact behind her words, he knew she meant them. He knew she believed in him. He loved how she always reminded him of that just when he needed it, just when he'd about given up on himself. "Do we have any jobs lined up around Core planets? Maybe I can do some investigating."

"I'm not sure that is such a good idea. It might lead to bigger problems." She stopped massaging his shoulders and moved around the chair, positioning herself in his lap. "We've already lost the doc and his sister. I ain't going to take too well to losing my husband."

"I've been thinking about it. I've been thinking a lot about it actually. They can't kill me." He said very assured.

"Excuse me?" Her eyebrow rose.

"They wouldn't kill me without knowing what I knew. It could be a bargaining tool. I might be the only bargaining tool we've got."

"Bargaining for what? The Alliance isn't in the bargaining business. They would take you and torture you until you either talked or died. The Tams would still be missing and I'd be a widow. I don't think you've fully grasped the bigger picture here, husband."

"Someone has to know where they are. If you could put a tracking device on me…" He'd pictured the plan in his mind a hundred times. He'd wear the tracking device, the Alliance officials would take him in, he'd demand to see Simon, they'd take him there, and then the crew would know the location. They could plot a rescue mission. Soon enough he and the Tams could come back home to Serenity. It wouldn't all go smoothly, but he knew the few rocky bumps along the way would be worth it. He reasoned it was their best shot of finding the needles.

"NO!" She got up from his lap. "They are smart enough to drill into a girl's brain and turn her into a reader. God only knows what they would have been capable of turning her into if Simon hadn't intervened. I think they're smart enough to notice a tracking device. This is the stopping point to whatever harebrained plan you have blueprinted in your mind, dong ma?" She looked intently into his eyes. She knew this was important to Wash, but he had to know that what she was demanding of him was important to her.

* * *

She walked into his cell, tray of food in hand. It was when she bent over to set the tray down that he noticed.

"Kiara, what happened?" He walked closer to her, gently extending his hand to her neck, inspecting the bruises.

"Shower accident." She rolled her eyes. "I'm such a klutz." She knew that was a horrible lie. She figured Simon would see right through it, but she hoped he'd ignore it.

The title of doctor came with a pretty detailed handbook. One of the sections concerned domestic violence. It was normal procedure that whenever a lady was admitted to the ER that she be asked if she was a victim of domestic violence. It was also normal procedure for doctors to report any suspected cases of domestic violence regardless of the patient's response to the first question. Kiara wasn't his patient, and this cell was certainly no ER, but the bruising on her neck was apparent to have been a result of domestic violence. "Kiara, I'm a doctor. I can tell those bruises weren't the effect of a shower accident. Not unless said accident involved someone helping you up by grabbing hold of your neck and nearly choking you to death."

"Simon, it's a little hard to be a victim of domestic violence when you are a single woman living all alone. It is very easy, however, to slip and fall on wet tile." She didn't even think about that one, the lie just rolled off the tip of her tongue. It was becoming rather like a second nature she guessed.

"Okay, maybe this wasn't the result of domestic violence. Maybe it was the result of workplace violence." He didn't even second guess himself. He knew Travis Walken was accountable.

"Simon, I'd like to think you know I'm not like Walken and his goons. I'd like to think you know I'm warm-blooded and actually have a heart. If I'm right, and you do think those things of me, I ask that you think enough of me to let this be. I ask that you trust in me when I say I can handle whatever mess it is I might have gotten myself into. Simon, I ask, I beg of you, that you speak nothing of this, please." Her eyes looked up at his as if her fate rested in her hands.

"Tell me why." He demanded.

"What?" She was expecting a yes or no. A 'why' caught her off guard.

"Tell me why he nearly asphyxiated you and I'll let it be." He crossed his arms. His stance indicating this was not a negotiable issue.

"I can't." She whispered.

"Yes you can. You _can_ tell me why. You choose _not_ to tell me."

"Fine, you want to know the reason why? You! You are the reason why. Walken wanted me to warm up to you, to become your friend. Once I did he wanted me to find out the name of your wife. He wanted to know the names of anyone you've been in contact with. Last night he called me into his office wanting the answers and I lied. I told him I didn't know anything. I told him you were as stubborn as mule and I'd probably never know anything. He didn't believe me. He figured nearly crushing my neck would be a good incentive to tell him the truth. I told him again that I knew nothing. I'm not exactly sure he believed me the second time, but he let me go anyways."

"You mean he let you go for now." Simon was stunned. He'd wanted her help, but he never expected she'd lie for him, not when her life was nearly fading away. "Kiara, if he finds out…" His tone was soft.

"I know, Simon. I know. He's that type of man and I knew that before I told the lies."

"Why did you?" His asked out of curiosity.

"It just ain't right what he's done to your sister. I'll be damned if he's going to bring in your wife and… I can't live knowing I'm responsible for whatever he'd do. It just makes me sick thinking I've spent the last four years of my life working for him. It makes me wonder how many personal files I've researched and compiled for him that have led to…" She bit her bottom lip, struggling to keep herself together. "I'm ashamed of myself for looking the other way all these years. Looking away never solves the problem. It only lets the problem grow into something so overwhelming that it breaks down every part of you, leaving you absolutely helpless. It's a domino effect. Once you snap, everyone who leaned on you falls to the ground, abandoned."

"You can't stay here. It's not safe." Simon had been accustomed to comforting distraught women. Something made him think there might be more behind Kiara's breakdown then Travis Walken. He pulled her into his arms. "You need to leave. You need to go some place he can't find you."

"If I leave he'll know I lied. He won't rest until he's found me, until he's made sure I know the pain accompanied with being stabbed in the back."

"So quit."

"That won't do me any good either. If I quit now, after yesterday, that will be proof I was lying. I'm stuck here. I'm stuck in an ocean of lies and the only way to keep afloat, to keep from drowning, is to continue telling lies." Her sobs were muffled by his cotton shirt. It had been so many years since she cried. She had a lot of them built up in her and it felt good to finally let them out. She was still embarrassed though, especially since she was staining his shirt with tears.

"You could come with me." He gently pulled away from her, allowing himself to look into her eyes. "Serenity can be your home until we find you a safe place. It might be a different style of life from the one you are used to living, but you might be surprised by how quickly you can adjust."

"Simon, that's crazy. If he found us, he'd kill us." It _was_ crazy. Breaking two fugitives out of an Alliance facility was crazy enough, but by doing so she'd be becoming a fugitive herself and that was even crazier. The most illegal thing she'd ever done was shoplift a pair of shoes from the mall when she was sixteen. The consequences of that, had she been caught, would have been highly insignificant compared to what she'd be charged with for assisting in the escape of two highly demanded fugitives.

"If my sister and I stay, we will be killed. If you stay and he finds out, you will also be killed. Running is the only chance at having a life aside from fear."

She wiped the tears away from underneath her eyes. "So, you said that Companion's name was Inara Serra?" There might be consequences to becoming a fugitive, but at least she could live with herself. She couldn't turn her head any longer. She needed to do what was right. It was right that no one had to suffer the wrath of Travis Walken.

To be continued...


End file.
